Christmas
1917, the Kaiser was once more hinting that Germany was ready to talk
peace. He was wise, for if peace could have been made then it would
have left Germany absolute mistress of all of middle Europe. Austria,
Bulgaria, and Turkey were more under the control of the Kaiser and his
war lords than were parts of his own empire like Bavaria and Saxony.
In Belgium, Serbia, Poland, Lithuania, Roumania, and northern France
the central powers had over forty millions of people who were
compelled to work for them like slaves. The plunder collected from
these countries ran into billions of dollars. The road to the east,
cut asunder by the results of the second Balkan war (see map),
had been forced open by the rush of the victorious German armies
through Serbia and Roumania. A peace at this time would have been a
German victory. With the drain on the man power of the central powers,
with dissatisfaction growing among their people, with the steady
increase in the armies of the United States, time was fighting on the
side of the allies.

Questions for Review

1. Does the Zimmermann note show that the German government
understood conditions in Mexico and the United States?
2. Why did the Zimmermann note have so strong an effect upon American
public opinion?
3. What were the steps by which the United States was forced into
war?
4. Why did not Holland and Denmark declare war on Germany also?
5. What was the main difference between the English blockade of
Germany and the German submarine war on England?
6. Was the German government responsible for the acts of its agents
in this country?
7. What is the Monroe Doctrine?
8. Why could not the Imperial Government of Germany be trusted?
9. How was this war different for the United States from any previous
conflict?
10. What was the greatest obstacle to peace?

CHAPTER XXIV

Europe as it Should Be

Natural boundaries of nations in Europe.--Peoples outside of the
nations with whom they belong.--The mixture of peoples in
Austria-Hungary, and Russia.--The British Isles.--The Balkan
states.--Recent changes in the map.--The wrongs done by mighty nations
upon their weak neighbors bring no happiness.

We have several times shown you, in the course of this little history,
maps drawn by kings and marked off by diplomacy and through bloodshed.
Let us now examine a map of Europe divided according to the race and
language of its various people